Certain types of missiles are generally guided from support platforms at launch by permanent appendages to missiles such as hangers or slides that run in rails on a platform. This arrangement provides initial directional control for the missile and ensures proper separation between the missile and its launch platform during the critical initial phase of launch. The missile appendages, however, create unwanted aerodynamic drag, both asymetric and otherwise, resulting in reduced range and impaired accuracy of the missile. The need for eliminating projecting appendages, and the unwanted drag that they produce, from missiles has become increasingly important as missile sophistication has increased, and missiles with higher speeds, longer range, and greater accuracy are being developed for operation at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. Elimination of missile appendages, therefore, has become essential.
Various approaches to providing missile launching systems that avoid the use of permanently projecting appendages on the missile are disclosed in prior art patents. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,967,529, issued July 6, 1976, to Ingle et al., and 4,170,923, issued Oct. 16, 1979, to Kilmer, utilize retractable lug assemblies with spring-biased mechanisms that cause a projecting lug to be forced into a seating space within the body of the missile upon being launched. U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,411, issued July 12, 1983, to Miakler, discloses a mechanism having guide rails and guide claws and a supporting bolt that is retracted into the missile body upon launch by means of a spring. While effective in reducing drag, these devices add weight to the missile and reduce its efficiency. A launcher assembly employing a jettisonable fitting for engaging the guide rail of a launcher so as to avoid aerodynamic drag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,670, issued Sept. 1, 1964, to Suydam. This presents a disadvantage in that any jettisoned fitting at an airborne launch platform can be ingested by the aircraft engine(s) or hit other vital parts, resulting in hazardous flight conditions. It is desired to provide a missile launcher in which the missile is supported without use of projecting appendages or lug retracting mechanisms built into the missile.